Stepping On Toes
by ElectroKate
Summary: Simple, cute one-shot of Sam and Jess first meeting under awkward circumstances. Just a little insight into my vision of their early relationship I thought I'd share.


_Just a simple one-shot of Sam and Jess and their first meeting as I imagined it today. It would be lovely if you would review if you liked/would like me to perhaps continue to a longer story. Enjoy!_

'Stepping On Toes'

Sam Winchester had faced down vampires, ghouls, evil spirits, and the angry wrath of his father, but nothing could prepare him for the fear he felt on his first day of college.

He'd known this was what he wanted for a while now, known that it was a big step to walk away from his dad and brother and that there was no turning back. But being on his own in the real world and focusing on acting like a regular person gave him serious doubts. What if they knew he was different? What if he couldn't make friends or sucked at his classes?

No, he reminded himself, at least he wouldn't suck at his classes. He'd had a horrible track record in education when he'd applied and yet his exam scores and good grades, despite his erratic movement crisscrossing the country, had been good enough to get him into college in the first place. For once, he'd be able to stay and put down some roots, study without having to jump at the word go to kill some evil creature. The thought comforted him, so Sam pushed the other doubts from his mind.

As Sam walked with long, confident strides towards the classroom, he glanced quickly over the thoroughly wrinkled piece of paper in his hands once more, even though he'd already memorized his class schedule as soon as he'd received it. Yes, this was the right class room. He checked his watch; he was twenty minutes early.

Pushing open the door cautiously in case there was a class in progress, Sam entered the room and drank in the sight of the lecture theatre. He'd made it to Stanford and he was about to attend his first lecture; something clicked in his mind, as though he'd just ticked off something on his bucket list. He imagined it was titled something along the lines of 'Sam's List of Normalcy', and he had a long way to go.

Sam wasn't sure where to sit; he could sit at the back and try to stay as inconspicuous as possible, as his father had taught him, but that might make him look bad in the eyes of his professor. Sam considered sitting in the front row to make the most of his education, but thought his fellow students might see him as a suck up. Instead of making a decision right away, Sam placed his bag on the lectern and examined the blackboard behind him, filled with notes from a previous class, probably science by the looks of it. He ran a finger through a line of chalk and blew the white dust from his finger.

"Professor! I'm so glad you're here early, I was wondering if you had a few moments to speak with me." A bright voice burst Sam's haze of contentment. He whirled around, and came face to face with a young woman, striding purposefully towards him with a wide smile on her face.

Sam began to register what she'd said to him and began to correct her, "I'm not-"

The girl didn't notice his quiet voice, "I am so excited to be doing Law this year, and I cannot tell you how much I want to make it through this course. I know how difficult it is and I would like to let you know I am one hundred and ten percent prepared. I am not afraid to step on a few toes to make it to the top here." She nodded at the end of her monologue as though to assure herself she'd said everything she needed to. Her hair, curly and golden blonde, bobbed with the movement. Her clear blue eyes rested on his expectantly.

Sam was caught somewhere in between completely intimidated and deeply embarrassed. His mouth gaped open like a fish and he made an active decision to close it and compose himself before he spoke to the expectant blonde. "I'm… not the professor. I'm a student too, just got here early."

The girl's eyes fluttered in momentary confusion, her thick eyelashes dancing delicately. A pink flush spread up her cheeks and she pursed her full lips, giving him a once-over look to reevaluate him. "Oh, I'm so sorry. This is mortifying."

Sam laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't look that old, do I?"

She shook her head quickly, "Of course not! It's just the outfit, and the bag…"

Sam looked at his clothes; a shirt, a navy tie, suit jacket and pants. He'd read the outline of the Faculty of Law's dress code and thought it had seemed appropriate. "I uh, I guess I did over dress a bit." He looked at the girl's casual shirt and jeans, cringing at the awkwardness of the situation.

The girl gave a wry smile, "To be fair, I might be a little too casual."

"Then I guess we balance each other out then, huh?"

"I guess so," The girl laughed, placing a hand on her mouth as she did so. Sam found it quite cute, in fact.

"I'm Sam, by the way. I'll remember to keep my toes away from you. Wouldn't want you stepping on them, now would I?" Sam held out his hand for her to shake.

She took his proffered greeting with a smile, "Jessica, nice to meet you. Sorry about that, it was a tad aggressive now that I think about it. Just nervous about the first day and all."

Sam smiled, nodding. "No problem, I'm actually kind of jealous. I wish I could muster up the courage to say that to my professor. Sorry you wasted all that on me, it was impressive."

Jessica looked down modestly, shrugging her shoulders. Sam's height left him without a view of her face and he hoped her embarrassment had subsided enough that his gentle teasing wasn't too much. He was very relieved when she looked up at him and smiled once more, her lips quirking up at the sides, revealing dimples on her cheeks. "Thanks," she brushed a strand of golden hair from her face, "Should we sit down and get ready for class? It looks like people are arriving." She glanced back at the students milling cautiously outside the door, not quite sure whether they should be entering.

Sam nodded, gesturing for her to take a seat first. She obliged and sat in one of the middle rows. Sam followed her slowly, not quite sure whether she would want him to join her or not. He wanted to, of course, who wouldn't? She was intelligent and strong-willed, not to mention gorgeous. But with his luck, she probably wouldn't want to sit with the weird kid who had shown up dressed as the professor on the first day. She busied herself with sifting through her backpack, and Sam resigned himself to sitting somewhere further back instead of making her uncomfortable. Well, at least he'd spoken to her.

"Where are you going?" Jessica's voice questioned him as he was about to pass her row. "Sit with me," she patted the seat next to her, offering him an encouraging smile. It faltered slightly as Sam stayed hesitant and unmoving. "Unless of course, you really are afraid of me stepping on your toes. In which case I totally understand," she quipped.

Sam shook his head, trying to remind himself that here at university he was just another awkward college student just like everyone else. Nobody had any nefarious ulterior motives and there weren't any monsters lurking around; he'd already checked. She was simply a nice girl. And she wanted him to sit with her. "You can't scare me that easily," Sam responded. He shuffled along the row and sat down next to her, a bundle of butterflies in his stomach at the prospect of friendship with this stunning girl, and perhaps if he was lucky, something more.

But he was getting ahead of himself. For now, he was content to spend his time with her; get to know her quirks and behaviours, and learn the backstory as to why she'd wanted to speak so candidly with the professor. Sitting next to her in that lecture theatre, watching his fellow students file in, the nerves he'd felt earlier melted away.

Sam Winchester was content.

* * *

><p>That afternoon, as Sam was wandering back to his dorm room having successfully survived his first day at Stanford, a new friend who was doing second year pre-med stopped him for a chat.<p>

"I saw you speaking to Jess this morning," Brady wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "Have a good chat did you?"

Sam rolled his eyes with a smile, "How do you know her?"

Brady shrugged. "She may have asked me if the man standing alone in the lecture theatre was the first year law lecturer, and I may have encouraged her to go and introduce herself…"

Sam raised his eyebrows, "_You _told her to speak to me?"

"Hey, what are friends for? I can tell you guys are going to have a _great_ future." Brady's mouth twitched in a twisted smile, and Sam found himself a little put off by the look in his eyes. But after a moment it vanished.

"Okay, well I'll see you later Brady." Sam gave him a curt nod and headed off towards his dorm.

"Oh Sam?"

Sam turned around and faced Brady, the fading sunlight behind his friend making his eyes squint. "Yeah?"

"Maybe dress a little more casually tomorrow," Brady laughed.

Sam smiled and turned once more to leave, but did a double take. For a moment, Brady's eyes had seemed dark, too dark, than their usual grey-blue colour. But as Sam shielded his eyes from the sun, his confusion dissolved when he saw Brady's clear, light eyes as he waved goodbye. It must have been the glare from the sun, Sam decided.

On the rest of his walk, he considered what Brady had done. It left him with a bad taste in his mouth, to think that he had lied to her for the purpose of setting him up. But Brady introducing him to Jessica, albeit manipulatively, was the highlight of his day. In the end, Sam reasoned, what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

><p><em>It's a cruel, cruel world for our poor Sam :( Hopefully you liked it, I've always thought of Jess as having more of an ambitious, outgoing personality but let me know what you guys think. It's never explicitly said that she did law, but I thought it was nice to consider her as a fellow law student of Sam's. While I'm not quite certain about the timeline with Brady and college with Sam, and they knew each other before Brady was possessed and therefore Brady introduced the two of them later on in his degree, I liked the idea of nervous, first day Sam meeting Jess in their first lecture together. <em>

_Like I said earlier, reviews would be much obliged, this story might be worth continuing but let me know if you'd like to read more! Thanks!_


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